Monday letters: Keystone, Angelina Jolie, local parks

Copyright 2013: Houston Chronicle

Updated 5:47 pm, Sunday, May 19, 2013

Keystone

Regarding "Keystone pipeline needs to be built for America" (Page B7, May 10), Michael Economides says much that is true about the relative environmental safety of transporting oil in pipelines when he makes his argument that Keystone should be built.

However he treats the Keystone opposition as if it is only based on the possible damaging effects on local environments through which the pipeline passes.

I believe, as he probably does, that the local environment through which a pipeline passes can be protected, if both business and governments are proactive (big "if" however).

But Economides ignores the primary reason for nonlocal opposition to the pipeline, and that is the long term effects extraction of Canadian oil sands have on the CO2 content of the atmosphere. Because the extraction and refining process of these materials is much more energy intensive than conventional drilling, the net release of CO2 to the atmosphere is similar to that of burning coal. In this context we should be ratcheting back our dependence on fossil fuels and actively restructuring our energy economy to use renewable energy in their place. Keystone represents the opposite - an investment in the dirtiest, most carbon intensive of fossil fuels.

Economides and his cohorts in the energy industry have a history of ignoring the uncomfortable conclusions of physics and climate science when it comes to the effects of CO2 on planetary temperature and the climate.

However, if we continue business as usual as they advocate, we are locking in a future that will be characterized by our descendants' efforts to survive rising sea levels, droughts, and barren toxic oceans in which much of the life on which we depend has been decimated.

Ron Spross, Humble

Self-motivated

Regarding "Angelina Jolie gives a lesson in living" (Page E1, Wednesday), We are all happy for Angelina Jolie. We wish her a long and happy, healthy life for herself and above all for her six children. At the same time, many are calling her a heroine. That is certainly not true. She took a difficult measure to save her own life but that does not make her a heroine.

A hero is one who attempts or in fact gives his life for another: a fireman who risks his life to save others from a painful death; a policeman willing to take a bullet to save you and me from an evil person; a soldier who dies for us in a struggle against our enemies. These are heroes.

Regarding "Outside but in reach" (Page B6, Friday), I was alarmed to learn that the Texas Legislature has zeroed out funding for local parks. Since 1979, some of Texas' most beloved parks, including the Armand Bayou Nature Center, have been acquired or developed in part thanks to the Local Parks Grant Program administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Our parks play a valuable role in strengthening families, promoting healthy living, protecting our environment and developing economic prosperity.

But the budget passed by the Texas House and Senate appropriates no money at all for this successful matching grant program.